More than 850 million polio vaccine doses have been delivered in Pakistan through a UAE program since 2014, while related work supports disease detection and outbreak response in Africa, Gulf News reported Saturday.
UAE Minister of Health and Prevention Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh made the remarks in a statement for World Polio Day on Oct. 24. He described children as the intended beneficiaries and said vaccination efforts aim to limit polio’s spread.
Al Sayegh said President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has contributed $525 million to international polio efforts since 2011. In December 2025, the Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative held a pledging event in Abu Dhabi, where nearly $1.9 billion in pledges were announced. Al Sayegh said partnerships and international funding are important to the eradication effort.
Dubai Humanitarian supports World Health Organisation (WHO) logistics, including laboratory supplies used to detect poliovirus, Al Sayegh said. It operates within Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives.
eHealth Africa, based at Dubai Humanitarian, has helped develop more than 50 rooms for coordinating polio outbreak responses in 26 African countries. Al Sayegh said eHealth Africa used location-based tracking to support vaccination drives in six Nigerian states, where more than 14.6 million children were immunized.
The UAE has recorded no polio cases since 1992, he said, citing immunization and epidemiological surveillance programs.
